Finger-scan system OK: Arbitrator

Workers at the Good Humor-Breyers ice cream manufacturing company in Simcoe, Ont., start the day with the swipe of a finger.

To record their start times, the company uses a finger scan, specifically, the Kronos 4500 Touch ID Terminal Biometric Time Clock. Employees “enrol” two fingers (thereby providing a back-up finger in case the original finger is incapacitated later) and the machine stores what its brochure calls a “mathematical representation” of the fingerprints.

The company providing the system claims the images of the fingerprint are not saved, so the system could not use any stored information to recreate the fingerprint, ensuring complete privacy.